Segodon

Segodon (西郷どん, Mr. Saigō in Kagoshima dialect) is a 2018 Japanese historical drama television series and the 57th NHK taiga drama. It stars Ryohei Suzuki as Saigō Takamori, who has been dubbed the last true samurai.

The drama follows the life of historical figure Saigō Takamori. Born the first son of a lower-class samurai, he was exiled two times and went through three marriages. He was one of the central figures of the Meiji Restoration but later rebelled against the government over dissatisfaction with Meiji reforms.

• Ryohei Suzuki as Saigō Takamori
  • Ao Watanabe as Kokichi (young Takamori)
• Keiko Matsuzaka as Saigō Masa, the mother of Takamori
• Morio Kazama as Saigō Kichibei, the father of Takamori
• Toshiyuki Nishida as Saigō Kikujirō, Takamori's son
  • Yuki Imai as Teen Kikujirō
  • Kairi Jō as Child Kikujirō
• Ai Hashimoto as Suga, the first wife of Takamori
• Haru Kuroki as Iwayama Ito, the third wife of Takamori
  • Konomi Watanabe as young Ito
• Ryo Nishikido as Saigō Jūdō, one of Takamori's brothers
  • Taiyō Saitō as Saigō Shingo (young Jūdō)
• Mone Kamishiraishi as Saigō Kiyo, the wife of Jūdō
• Gōta Watabe as Saigō Kichijirō, one of Takamori's brothers
  • Taketo Arai as young Kichijirō
• Yuki Kashiwagi as Saigō Sono, the wife of Kichijirō
• Nanami Sakuraba as Ichiki (née Saigō) Koto, one of Takamori's sisters
  • Yuki Kurimoto as young Koto
• Yūki Maekawa as Ichiki Sōsuke, Koto's son
• Yū Kayano as Saigō Yasu, one of Takamori's sisters
• Kumi Mizuno as Kimi, the grandmother of Takamori
• Kon Ōmura as Saigō Ryūemon, the grandfather of Takamori
• Muga Tsukaji (Drunk Dragon) as Kumakichi
• Mayuko Saigō as Saigō Sakurako
• Maika Hara as Saigō Taka, one of Takamori's sisters
• Yūki Yagi as Saigō Kikusō, Takamori's daughter

• Eita as Ōkubo Toshimichi
  • Tatsuki Ishikawa as young Toshimichi
• Rie Mimura as Ōkubo Masu, the wife of Toshimichi
• Mitsuru Hirata as Ōkubo Jiemon, the father of Toshimichi
• Mariko Fuji as Ōkubo Fuku, the mother of Toshimichi
• Tamami Kusaka as Ōkubo Suma
• Yuki Uchida as Oyū

• Ken Watanabe as Shimazu Nariakira, the master of Takamori
• Munetaka Aoki as Shimazu Hisamitsu
• Takeshi Kaga as Shimazu Narioki
• Rumiko Koyanagi as Yura
• Raita Ryu as Zusho Hirosato
• Seiya Osada as Shimazu Mochihisa
  • Rasei Nakajima as young Mochihisa
• Naho Toda as Kiku
• Yukiya Kitamura as Ōyama Kakunosuke (later Ōyama Tsunayoshi)
  • Naoki Inukai as young Kakunosuke
• Mitsuomi Takahashi as Arimura Shunsai (later Kaeda Nobuyoshi)
  • Yūto Ikeda as young Shunsai
• Arata Horii as Murata Shinpachi
  • Kenshirō Katō as young Shinpachi
• Ikki Sawamura as Akayama Yukie
• Jun Itoda as Katsura Hisatake
• Yu Tokui as Yamada Tamehisa
• Shūichirō Masuda as Arima Shinshichi
  • Masaki Izawa as young Shinshichi
• Takurō Ōno as Nakamura Hanjirō
  • Rukito Nakamura as young Hanjirō
• Manabu Hamada as Sakoda Tomonoshin
• Shiori Sugioka as Oaki
• Tomoya Warabino as Ebihara Shigekatsu
• Keita Machida as Komatsu Tatewaki
• Yoshimasa Kondo as Tanaka Yūnosuke
• Ayumi Tanida as Koba Den'nai
• Teppei Akashi as Narahara Kihachirō
• Yūki Izumisawa as Kawaji Toshiyoshi
• Hideo Sakaki as Shinohara Kunimoto
• Yūshin Shinohara as Beppu Shinsuke

General public

• Rin Takanashi as Fuki
  • Rinka Kakihara as young Fuki
• Taku Suzuki (Drunk Dragon) as Heiroku, Fuki's father
• Sumie Sasaki as Ishi, Kumakichi's grandmother
• Fujita Okamoto as Itagaki Yosaji
• Toshiyuki Kitami as Ijūin Naogorō, Suga's father
• Masayuki Shionoya as Iwayama Naoatsu, Ito's father

The people of Amami Ōshima

• Fumi Nikaidō as Aikana, the second wife of Takamori
• Akira Emoto as Ryū Samin
• Midori Kiuchi as Ishichiyo Kane
• Natsuko Akiyama as Yuta
• Tsutomu Takahashi as Tomiken
• Honami Kurashita as Komurume
• Anna Sato as Satochiyo Kane

The people of Okinoerabujima

• Renji Ishibashi as Kawaguchi Seppō
• Yoshiki Saitō as Tsuchimochi Masateru
• Yōko Ōshima as Tsuchimochi Tsuru

• Tetsuji Tamayama as Kido Takayoshi
• Kenta Hamano as Itō Hirobumi
• Hayashiya Shōzō IX as Ōmura Masujirō
• Hikaru Futagami as Kusaka Genzui
• Osaomu Kaō as Shiraishi Shōichirō
• Riki Choshu as Kijima Matabei
• Manabu Ino as Kikkawa Kenmotsu
• Masayuki Satō as Miyoshi Shinzō

• Shun Oguri as Sakamoto Ryōma
• Asami Mizukawa as Oryō, the wife of Ryōma
• Shogo Yamaguchi as Nakaoka Shintarō
• Akira Otaka as Yamauchi Yōdō, the lord of Tosa
• Ryo Segawa as Gotō Shōjirō

• Kanji Tsuda as Matsudaira Shungaku
• Shunsuke Kazama as Hashimoto Sanai
• Asahi Yoshida as Nakane Yukie

• Shota Matsuda as Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shōgun
• Kenichi Endō as Katsu Kaishū
• Naoki Matayoshi as Tokugawa Iesada, the 13th shōgun
• Tamotsu Kanshūji as Tokugawa Iemochi, the 14th shōgun
  • Towa Araki as young Iemochi
• Naohito Fujiki as Abe Masahiro
• Shirō Sano as Ii Naosuke
• Shinji Asakura as Hotta Masayoshi
• Satoshi Jimbo as Nagano Shuzen
• Takahiro Fujimoto as Yamaoka Tesshū
• Jundai Yamada as Hiraoka Enshirō
• Masami Horiuchi as Itakura Katsukiyo

Ōoku

• Keiko Kitagawa as "Tenshō-in" Atsuhime
• Yoko Minamino as Ikushima, the tutor of Atsuhime
• Pinko Izumi as Honjuin, Iesada's mother

• Shuji Kashiwabara as Matsudaira Katamori
• Ken Shōnozaki as Matsudaira Sadaaki

• Nakamura Kotarō VI as Emperor Kōmei
• Nomura Man'nojō VI as Emperor Meiji
• Shōfukutei Tsurube II as Iwakura Tomomi
• Tomiyuki Kunihiro as Konoe Tadahiro
• Nomura Manzō IX as Sanjō Sanetomi
• Takeshi Nadagi as Nakagawa-no-miya
• Kenichi Ogata as Nakayama Tadayasu
• Yasuto Kosuda as Prince Arisugawa Taruhito

• Shugo Oshinari as Inoue Kaoru
• Shingo Murakami as Yamagata Aritomo
• Kiyohiko Shibukawa as Itagaki Taisuke
• Hiroyuki Onoue as Ōkuma Shigenobu
• Takaya Sakoda as Etō Shinpei

• Thane Camus as Harry Smith Parkes
• Hannah Grace as Mrs. Parkes
• Steve Wiley as Ernest Mason Satow
• Blake Crawford as Townsend Harris
• Gilles Beaufils as Léon Roches
• Noam Katz as Charles Lennox Richardson
• Nathan Berry as Dr. William Willis

• Masatō Ibu as Tokugawa Nariaki, the father of Yoshinobu
• Onoe Kikunosuke V as Getshō
• Kimihiko Hasegawa as Date Munenari
• Takayasu Komiya as Tokugawa Yoshikatsu
• Michiko Tanaka as Tama
• Takashi Tome as Den'emon
• Hitori Gekidan as John Manjirō
• Haruna Kondō (Harisenbon) as Tora
• Michifumi Isoda as Naiki Jinzaburō, the first mayor of Kyoto
• Kōkichi Tanoue as Naoo Nakahara

Production Credits

• Narrator – Toshiyuki Nishida
• Music – Harumi Fūki
• Historical research – Izumi Haraguchi, Manabu Ōishi and Michifumi Isoda
• Architectural research – Kiyoshi Hirai
• Costume designer – Kazuko Kurosawa
• Kagoshima dialect instructors – Takaya Sakoda and Kōkichi Tanoue

The series is based on the novel Segodon! by Mariko Hayashi which was first released in serial format starting February 2016 in the literature magazine Hon no Tabibito, and published as a book by Kadokawa Shoten the year after.

Ryohei Suzuki was announced to portray the lead role of Saigō Takamori in Segodon on November 2, 2016. The main cast for the Saigo and Okuba family were announced on March 27, 2017, which includes Eita, Haru Kuroki, Nanami Sakuraba, Gōta Watabe, Muga Tsukaji, Morio Kazama, Mitsuru Hirata, and Keiko Matsuzaka. The main cast for the Shimazu family was announced on June 27, 2017, which includes Munetaka Aoki, Naho Toda, Yu Tokui, and Ken Watanabe. In September 2017, it was announced that Yuki Saito would not be able to play as Ikushima, and was eventually replaced by Yoko Minamino. By November 2017, Etsuko Ichihara also had to drop out as narrator of the series due to her ongoing recovery from encephalomyelitis, and was eventually replaced by Toshiyuki Nishida.

• "Segodon" Taiga Drama Original Soundtrack I (February 21, 2018)
• "Segodon" Taiga Drama Original Soundtrack II (August 8, 2018)
• "Segodon" Taiga Drama Original Soundtrack III (October 10, 2018)

• Bakumatsu

• Official Site (in Japanese)
• Segodon at IMDb